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United States Patent | 5,765,694 |
Blalock ,   et al. | June 16, 1998 |
An infeed conveyor feeds seed cotton modules successively to a feeder head having disperser drums which reduce the modules to clumps of cotton. Incorporated into the conveyor are fluted rollers and beater rollers which cooperate to agitate the bottom portion of the modules and work the fibers on the bottom of each module so as to stretch and relax these fibers, thereby causing the sand, dirt, mud, trash and other debris accumulated along the bottom of the modules to be released. A conveyor feeds this debris to a hopper. Further, after the cotton modules have been dispersed into clumps of cotton by disperser drums in a feeder head and the clumps deposited in a clump chamber, a trough having a sieve means receives the clumps of cotton. In the trough, a conveyor disposed in the trough urges the clumps of cotton in a lateral direction toward an air separator box adjacent the feeder head. The movement of the cotton in the trough allows sand, dirt and other debris released from the clumps of cotton to pass through the sieve means in the trough. The clumps of cotton removed from the feeder head are introduced into an air separator box where additional contaminants are removed from the dispersed cotton prior to delivery to a cotton gin.
Inventors: | Blalock; Billy Joe (Albany, GA); Harrell; Danny Hugh (Camilla, GA) |
Assignee: | Harrell Company, Inc. (Pelham, GA) |
Appl. No.: | 496828 |
Filed: | June 29, 1995 |
Current U.S. Class: | 209/2; 209/3; 209/12.1; 209/31; 209/44.1; 241/69; 241/77; 241/79; 241/81 |
Intern'l Class: | B03B 009/00 |
Field of Search: | 209/2,3,12.1,30,31,44.1,616,615,667,671,672,142,274 241/69,77,78,79,81,101.01,605 19/80 A |
5121841 | Jun., 1992 | Harrington et al. | 209/616. |
5222675 | Jun., 1993 | Stover | 209/616. |
5537809 | Jul., 1996 | Blalock | 56/16. |
Foreign Patent Documents | |||
214054 | Mar., 1961 | AT | 209/31. |